The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is continuing its investigation of the oil release from Shell Offshore Inc.’s Brutus Platform in the Glider Field on May 12. Lars Herbst, the bureau’s Gulf of Mexico (GoM) regional director, formally established an investigative panel on May 16, BSEE said that day.

The Glider Field is in the GoM about 97 miles south of Port Fourchon, La.

The seven-member panel is comprised of BSEE engineers, inspectors and investigators who will work to identify the causes and any contributing issues that led to the release of oil.

On May 12, BSEE reported that the estimated amount of spilled oil was 2,100 barrels (bbl). Separately that day, Reuters reported that the Brutus Platform began operations in 2001 and was designed with top capacity of 100 Mbbl/d of oil and 150 million cubic feet of natural gas per day; for these figures, Reuters cited "industry trade publications."

On May 16, BSEE said that production remains shut-in from the two subsea fields that flow to the Brutus Platform, and that it will not approve their restart until all safety concerns and applicable regulations have been met.

BSEE approved Shell’s plan for recovery of the damaged flowline segment. A BSEE inspector is onboard the recovery vessel to observe the recovery operations. All repair plans for the subsea flow lines and production systems will be submitted to BSEE for review.

BSEE’s panel will make recommendations in its final report on how to strengthen existing safety and environmental management systems, and identify any reforms to existing regulations that may be needed. The focus of these recommendations is to prevent a similar incident from occurring, the bureau said.

This article contains information from Reuters.

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